Tigers edged in Big West opener

STOCKTON - It was a Big West Conference opener that was going to leave one team heartbroken.

Jagdip Dhillon

STOCKTON - It was a Big West Conference opener that was going to leave one team heartbroken.

After over two hours of struggle, the UC Davis Aggies emerged as the victors over the Pacific Tigers on Thursday night. The Aggies scored 12 of the match's final 17 points to win 25-22, 25-16, 20-25, 13-25, 16-14 before 913 fans at Spanos Center. Despite falling into an 0-2 hole early, the Tigers held a 9-3 lead in the fifth set before falling apart.

"We need mental toughness," Pacific coach Greg Gibbons said. "We tightened up at 9-3, and it's the same thing we did at Arizona State. It's a matter of maturing, and we need it sooner than later. "

The Tigers (7-5, 0-1) also erased a 2-0 deficit against the Sun Devils last weekend before blowing a lead in the fifth set to lose 16-14. Gibbons didn't like his team's shot selection down the stretch, as too many cute shots were dug out by the Aggies (9-4, 1-0) and turned into points.

The most interesting subplot in the match involved Rebekah Torres. Like Clark Kent emerging from a phone booth as Superman, Torres came out of the locker room in a black jersey and a different position prior to the third set and helped the Tigers turn it around.

Torres began the match back at outside hitter, a move Gibbons had been mulling since last weekend as he sought more production from the position. Torres had been superb at libero, but Gibbons felt it was wasted without a better attack game. In the first two sets, the change appeared to disrupt Pacific's rhythm, so Gibbons put Torres back at libero and helped put the Tigers on the verge of victory.

"It felt normal, so we expected it to work better," Torres said. "But to come back like that and lose is so tough. We might have expected them to roll over and we let down."

Redshirt freshman Natalie Robinson started at libero, and Gibbons said she and the rest of the team have to do a better job on defense when Torres moves to outside. Gibbons said he would have to review the tape before deciding where Torres would start at UC Riverside on Saturday.

UC Davis coach Jamie Holmes said Torres' position change was the cause behind the massive momentum shift in the match.

"We're a young team and we controlled those first sets," Holmes said. "The change in the lineup provided a tempo change for them, and we got rattled and tense. But we never gave up hope."

Senior Svenja Engelhardt led Pacific with 17 kills and four aces, while junior Samantha Misa mirrored her team's performance by struggling in the first two sets, followed by superb play in the third and fourth frames before a disappointing finish. Misa had 13 kills and 11 digs, while hitting .186.